Page 103 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
He shot her a teasing smile, but her frown never wavered.
Right. Okay, then.
“And besides, Emma and Nash’s wedding is about six weeks away. I assume you’re going, and…” He glanced over, but she didn’t react. “I’d like you to be my date.”
Silence.
It seemed to echo in the truck’s cab. He stole another glance, but she’d turned away from him.
When he couldn’t take it anymore, he asked, “Well, what do you think? Will you be my date to the wedding?”
She shook her head, her face still turned away. “I wasn’t planning on…” She sighed, her head still shaking. “I can’t, JJ. You shouldn’t even be asking me.”
Her words pricked at his pride, and the rejection burrowed into his chest, threatening to pop that bubble of hope he’d been holding on to. But he wasn’t done yet. He hadn’t honestly expected this to be an easy conversation. “Why not?”
“Because… what’s the point?” She turned to him, anger, or maybe fear, sparking in her eyes.
“The point is I’d get to have you on my arm,” he argued. “The point is we could dance together and laugh and talk and… and have a proper date.”
“A proper…” She sighed loudly. “And then what? Then I’d go back to New York again and not come back until the baby is born in June. So what’s the plan there? Say we have a nice time together at the wedding. Is our second date going to be in June?” Her tone dripped with sarcasm. “Are we going to start dating on a quarterly basis? Is that the plan?”
He winced. “Honestly, I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m not sure how this would work, but I’m just asking that we take it one step at a time.” He turned his head to meet her gaze. “Take that first step with me, Lia. And we can deal with the rest as it comes.”
His heart was in his throat.Take my hand. Say you want this too.
Between them they could figure this out if she said yes. He had to believe that.
“I appreciate the offer,” she said, her voice so stilted he barely recognized it, “but Emma’s wedding? That’s… that’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?” he repeated, his tone growing harder now too.
She threw her hands up. “Because everyone will be there. My family, the entire town. It’s like making this big statement.”
“And what if I want to do that?” he shot back. “What if I want everyone to know how I feel about you?”
“Why would you when we have no future together?”
He stilled, his hands tightening on the wheel as the main road came into view. They’d reached the fork in the road—literally and figuratively.
Any other time, the thought might have made him laugh.
As it was, his voice sounded low and gruff as disappointment threatened to drown him. “No future, huh? Is that what you really think?”
“Come on, JJ,” she sighed. “I live in New York. You’re not about to become a city boy just for me. You would hate it, and it’s not like I can move my life here.”
“Why not?” The words were out before he could stop them.
“Because I have a job in New York,” she started.
“A job you hate.”
“I don’t hate it.”
He told himself to stop, but the words came tumbling out. “You don’t love it either. You’re underappreciated. You’re worth way more than their assistant.”
It was true and she knew it. But even so, he felt a sharp kick of guilt. Was he actually trying to convince her to stay? That hadn’t been part of the plan.
They hadn’t been dating nearly long enough for him to ask for that sort of commitment.
